Marathon, and by his admirable difpofition, brought his whole force to act on the enemy's rear.

The Perfians, encumbered and confined, and scarce able to use their arms, were inftantly thrown into confufion, and hewn down in immenfe numbers. The main body faced about, and advanced to the affiftance of the rear. The van, confident of victory from their numbers, defcended from the heights to purfue their fuccefs. The whole crowded together in the narrow paffes, making a general, confufed attempt to break into the plain: but the Athenians conftantly out-fronting them, and the immenfe numbers of the enemy only ferving to incommode themselves, and to create confufion, they were flain as fast as they advanced. At length thofe in front, unable to withstand the terrible carnage that raged around them, attempted to fly; but being prevented from retreating by thofe behind them, who not having feen the flaughter, ftill pufhed forward, they precipitately threw themfelves into the morafs.

Victory now declared for the Athenians, who, pursuing their advantage, fell with fuch violence on the difordered ranks of the enemy, that, to efcape their fury, their nearest opponents were compelled to turn, and in despair, forced their way through their own friends. A general rout immediately enfued, and the exertions of the Athenians encreafing with their fuccefs, they drove the enemy headlong before them. Near thirty thoufand Perfians fell by the fword. Numbers perished in the morafs, and the reft, in confufion and difmay, efcaped to their fhips.'

One of the caufes to which our author afcribes the fuccefs of the Greeks, is their out-fronting the enemy, which he admits to have been a lefs advantage in thofe days than it has become fince the invention of musketry and artillery. From the military fkill which captain Sutherland displays on this fubject, it feems to have been fortunate for the Greeks that he did not command the Perfian army; for, by his dexterous manœuvres, he would have brought a greater number of the invaders into action, and have completely furrounded Miltiades. He pays, however, a gallant compliment to the memory of this illuftrious hero, whofe tomb he had feen in the island Paros.

Of this facred tomb, fays he, only the base remains. I picked up a chip of marble that had fallen from it, and was inftantly impreffed with the idea of having this honored relick fet, with a fuitable device, in fome of the metal from the battering fhips, deftroyed before Gibraltar, and thus to commemorate and unite the greatest victory of Greece, with the most glorious achievement of Britain.'

On the whole, this volume will convey much agreeable in6 formation

formation to those who have not perused the accounts delivered by the travellers immediately preceding the prefent author. His defcriptions, in general, are marked with justness and delicacy; and though he fometimes indulges too much in Baneceffary details, he never is chargeable with duinefs.

Short Review of the British Government in India; and of the State of the Country before the Company acquired the Grant of the Dewanny. 8vo. 35. 6d. Boards. Stockdale.

Notwithstanding the affairs of India have occupied much of the public attention for feveral years, the author of the prefent treatife affirms, that the true ftate of that country, with regard to its laws, customs, and manners, the characters of its Mahommedan conquerors, and the conduct of the British government, has neither been fairly explained, nor rightly underflood; and with a view, therefore, of fupplying this defect, he has produced the elucidation now before us.

Our author obferves, it is the prevailing opinion that the British government in India has been a fyftem of tyranny and injustice; but whatever may have been the faults of fome individuals, he contends that fuch an imputation, when applied to the government in general, is totally erroneous; that it is founded on partial reports, and fostered by fallacious accounts. What has tended chiefly, fays he, to propagate and fupport this opinion, is, the great pains and talents which have been employed to circulate it, and the unavoidable ignorance of thofe into whom it has been infilled respecting the country of India, the fituation in which we found it, and the nature of its inhabitants; their laws, religion, and manners ;' fome knowledge of which is abfolutely requifite to form a judgment on the subject.

Our author, with much appearance of juftnefs and dif cernment, imputes the mifreprefentations refpecting the affairs of India partly to the nature of the government, and partly to the nature of things; the former of which he proceeds to explain. It was originally compofed, he obferves, of a council, confifting of a governor and thirteen members; but this number has fluctuated occafionally from fourteen to four, at which it was fixed by an act of parliament in 1784. In this council, which deliberated on every measure of government, relative to peace, war, revenue, or commerce, the governor had no other pre-eminence than that of having the cafting vote; but he was the magiftrate inverted with the power of executing the refolutions of the council; and he enjoyed feveral honorary diftinctions, which rendered his office a fa

tron of fome degree of envy and jealousy. A difference of opinion, which is natural to all deliberative affemblies, took place in the council at Calcutta; and both the passions and interests of the feveral members being excited, their debates were frequently maintained with heat and violence, which, of course, were infufed into the records of the company.

The confequences of thofe inteftine divifions are thus de. fcribed by our author:

As it is a rule of the East India company's governments, that the opinion of every member shall be dilivered in writing, and recorded, and as there were generally two fets of men in council in oppofition to each other, opinions are to be tound diametrically oppofite on the fame meafure; and, very frequently, both the measure, and the men who propofed it, are loaded with heavy abufe. This was one great caute of injury to the reputation of the British government in India; for when the ministry at home were inclined to condemn or reprobate any of its acts, they justified themselves by the opinions of the very members who were on the fpot at the time thefe acts were done, and quoted the fentiments of one party as irrefragable arguments against the other. Thus the language of irritated animofity has been frequently appealed to as proof of mal-administration, and mere infinuations and affertions, thrown out in the heat of contentious debate, have been brought forward as fo much specific evidence of actual criminality in the perfons against whom these infinuations and affertions are levelled.'

This mode of appealing to the opinions of one party in the council, against the determinations of the other, was doubtlefs a most dangerous expedient, by the opening which it afforded to envy and detraction; but its pernicious effects were aggravated, as our author obferves, by a fimilar diversity of opinions prevailing likewife in the court of directors; by whom the fentiments and prejudices of the members of the council were refpectively adopted, and maintained with equal animofity. The author fhews, by a candid detail of facts, the bad confequences refulting from thofe internal divifions, which exafperating the minds of the different parties, disposed them not only to traduce the characters, but counteract the meaTures of each other, and facrifice the interests of the company either to their own, or the gratification of private refent

ment.

The author next proceeds to explain the other caufes of preJudice against the British government in India, or those which he diftinguishes as arifing from the nature of things. Under this head he comprehends the fituation of the country, and the fyftem of the company's commerce; the former of which, VOL. LXIX. Mar, 1790.

he

he obferves, may be confidered in two points of view, namely, its vaft distance, and the state in which we found it.

From the remotenefs of India, fays he, our intercourse with it was neceffarily confined to a few, and our ignorance fo great, that it was in the power of any defigning perfon, either from intereft or malice, or both, to creare almost any prejudice that might fuit his purpose. It was impoffible for the directors, the minifters, or any part of the nation to whom the tales might be told, to judge of their truth or falsehood, their probability or abfurdity. And there were fome perfons, whom difappoint ment had foured, and difcontent rendered envious, who vented their complaints to their connexions in England, in fuch unfair reprefentations, as to occafion many unjuft prejudices in the minds of thofe to whom thefe communications were made: they imparted them to others, and private reports, which originated from particular diffatisfaction or malevolence, were circulated to the general injury of a whole community. Even the purposes of ambition have been ferved by this difingenuous method of publifhing artful mifreprefentations."

The author afterwards confirms his obfervations by inftances from the records of the company. One of those which he mentions in particular relates to Mahommed Reza Cawn, a native of rank in the country. In 1765, when lord Clive accepted the grant of the Dewanny, this perfon was appointed first minifter for the execution of the office naib dewan, and deputy to the nabob. He had filled thofe eminent ftations with general approbation for feven years; but in 1772, the court-of directors ordered him to be difmiffed, and brought to a public trial in Calcutta, in confequence of private information, which accufed him, in general terms, of misdemeanors in office, and of having contributed to the calamities of the poor in the famine which happened in 1769. After an impartial enquiry was made into his conduct, however, it appeared that the court of directors had been grofsly deceived by the private intelligence, and that he was entirely innocent of the charges which had been clandeftinely preferred against him.

In treating of this fubject, the author confiders the literary work of Mr. Bolts, as a fource of great mifreprefentation, abounding with malignity and falfehood. But a work of a far fuperior nature, we mean The Wealth of Nations,' is charged with being likewife the vehicle of fome erroneous information. We mention this the more freely, as we know from the candour of the learned author, that he had adopted the affertion upon what he judged to be credible authority, and will be the first to retract it, when convinced that it is deftitute of foundation. We therefore fubmit the following extract to the decision of those who are converfant with Indian griculture.

In page 477 of the fecond volume, Mr. (Dr.) Smith fays, fpeaking of the oppression of monopolies, and comparing their cffects in different ftates, "The English company have not yet had time to establish in Bengal fo perfectly deftructive a fyftem. The plan of the government, however, has had exactly the fame tendency. It has not been uncommon, I am well affured, for the chief, that is, the first clerk of a factory, to order a peafant to plow up a rich field of poppies, and fow it with rice. or fome other grain. The pretence was to prevent a scarcity of provifions, but the real reafon, to give the chief an oppor tunity of felling, at a better price, a large quantity of opium which he had upon hand. Upon other occations the order has been reverfed, and a rich field of rice, or other grain has been plowed up to make room for a plantation of poppies, when the chief faw that extraordinary profit was likely to be made by, opium."

This is. undoubtedly, a piece of misinformation to which this most refpectable gentleman would not have liftened, if he had either understood the manner of cultivating these plants, or had been poffeffed of any local knowledge on the subject. I have made very diligent inquiries, both in the fpot and in England, amongst thofe who must have known the facts which Mr. Smith relates, if they had been, as he afferts he was affured, no uncommon practice; and I have been uniformly answered, that they never heard of such inftances. But what will put the matter out of all doubt, are the following incontrovertible facts:

The poppy is a plant which requires a peculiar foil, and particular care in the culture of it. The medium price of the land on which it is cultivated, is about eleven or twelve rupees a begah, or one-third of an English acre. It is fowed at the begining of October, when the feafon of the periodical rain expires. The plant begins to be fit for incifion, in order to extract its juice, of which opium is made, about the end of December, and continues fo till March. It requires a dry foil, and can be brought to maturity only in the dry feafon, when the peroidical rains have ceafed. Paddy or rice lands let, on a medium, at three rupees a begah. Rice is fowed about the end of May, just before the periodical rains commence. One crop is reaped about the end of September; and another, which is the laft, and by far the greatest, about the end of December. It requires a foil faturated with water, and lies foaked in it for a confiderable time. On this account it is fowed just before the periodical rains commence; and nine-tenths of the quantity of rice, produced in the company's provinces, grow in the kingdom of Bengal, which is fo low and flat, that the grounds are either overflowed by the rivers Ganges and Burrumporter, with their tributary streams, or foaked with the rain which falls and ftagnates in them. It is therefore evident, that the foil and the feafon, which can alone fructify the paddy or rice, would rot

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and